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On reflection

Well, it started out life as a terabyte drive but as usual there’s a fair old chunk of HP software taking up residence on it. To back up data there is a SuperMulti DVD±R/RW drive. Somewhat surprisingly there isn’t a USB 3.0 port in amongst the four USB ports.

All the four USB ports are version 2 affairs

The dv6-6b06sa has a chiclet style keyboard and it’s a good example of the breed with decent key spacing. The keys themselves feel comfortable with just the right amount of travel and there’s even a separate numeric keypad.

If you’re a fan of glossy screens then the 15.6in screen will be right up your street. HP calls it a BrightView display, and it’s not kidding. However, it’s one of the most reflective screens I’ve seen for a while, great for watching movies on but a nightmare to use in an office environment due to light reflections.

Benchmark Tests

PCMark 7 Results

Longer bars are better

And here's yet another notebook with a 15.6in panel that only manages a 1366 x 768 native resolution. Even if you fancied upgrading you're out of luck. Given all the options HP does offer there’s not a higher resolution screen available anywhere in the current dv6-6b lineup either.

To give an idea of the battery life, looping in PCMark Vantage the HP dv6-6b06sa notched up a score of 180 mins. For entertainment purposes it gave 211 minutes of life for DVD playback and 136 minutes while playing a game, in this case Far Cry 2.